Conspiracy theorist David Icke barred from Australia

He believes September 11 was an inside job, the world is controlled by alien lizards and that Jews funded the Holocaust.

But controversial British conspiracy theorist David Icke will not be able to spread his out-there thoughts Down Under because Immigration Minister David Coleman has cancelled his visa.

As first reported by Sky News, the visa cancellation means Mr Icke will be unable to conduct his planned speaking tour of Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart and Sydney next month.

Mr Icke ripped into the Australian Government when he learnt the news this afternoon.

“What have these idiots done?” he told AAP from the United States.

“Coleman is a coward. He has the backbone of a jellyfish. What is the idiot doing? He’s proving me right.

“He has insulted every Australian man, woman and child. He’s insulted their right to the most basic freedom, which is the freedom to choose what they hear.”

It is understood Mr Icke’s visa was cancelled on character grounds.

Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, which launched the campaign to revoke Mr Icke’s visa, praised the Immigration Minister for the decision.

“Bravo Minister Coleman for heeding our call and for declaring in a loud voice that anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers will never find a home in Australia,” Dr Abramovich said in a statement.

“This was a defining moment for who we are as a nation, and we salute the government for taking a clear-eyed and moral stance in rejecting hate and incitement.

“Allowing Icke into our country would have crossed red lines and would have sent the message that it is open season on the Jewish community and that vilifying and maligning Australian Jews is OK and normal.

“This is a glorious victory for all Australians who believe in the core values of respect and tolerance.”

Mr Icke, a former footballer and broadcaster, made headlines as a doomsday prophet in the 1990s when he declared the British royal family were part of a reptilian bloodline and plans were afoot to establish world domination by a hidden “elite”.

Mr Icke believes there are reptile hybrids embedded in Australia’s wealthy political class but has declined to name names.

“(Reptilians) are everywhere in positions of real power,” he said today before it was revealed his visa had been cancelled.

Federal Labor candidate Josh Burns wrote to the Immigration Minister in late January asking for Mr Icke’s visa to be cancelled.

“Mr Icke promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and has an extensive history of spreading hate,” the ALP candidate for Macnamara wrote.

Today, Mr Burns on welcomed the news “the minister has finally backed down and reversed his decision to grant David Icke a visa”.

“Neo-Nazis recently marching in St Kilda should be enough of a reminder that we don’t need Mr Icke’s ugly hate coming to our proudly multicultural Australia,” he told AAP in a statement.

Labor immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann was also pleased Mr Icke had been barred.

“Labor welcomes the fact that the government did what we called on them to do and refused David Icke’s visa application,” Mr Neumann said.

“It’s up to Immigration Minister David Coleman to explain who he lets into Australia and how his decisions meet community standards and expectations.

“We would have been concerned if Immigration Minister David Coleman granted a visa to anyone who intends to vilify a segment of the Australian community or sow dangerous seeds of disunity.”

Mr Icke has repeatedly denied he is anti-Semitic or a Holocaust denier.